The F.D.A. issued their first denial order for 55,000 vape products. However, the F.D.A. put off making a decision whether big E-Cigarette companies can continue selling their products in the United States.

On Monday, Sept. 6, Juul paid a lawsuit of $40 million to North Carolina for targeting a young audience. Juuls and any other vaping device cannot be advertised in the United States.

The judge gave the F.D.A. a year to approve or reject the application presented by Juul, but when the year ended, they had not made a decision.

The F.D.A. considered approving 500 small e-cigarette companies if they can prove their products are not harmful. In an article published by NPR, the F.D.A. said, “We continue to work expeditiously on the remaining applications that were submitted by the court’s deadline, many in which are in the final stages of review.” There still is no definite answer.

Tobacco expert from Georgetown University Law Center, Eric Lindblom wants an answer. “They still haven’t made any tough decisions,” Lindblom said to The New York Times. “I expected a little bit more, and I’m not an optimist.”

Juul appreciates the time the F.D.A. takes to come to a decision. Juul said to The New York Times, it “respects the central role of the F.D.A.”

The president of Tobacoo-Free Kids, Matthew Myers, is eager for an answer as well. “The decisions the F.D.A. still has to make are more important than the ones they’ve made already,” Myers told The New York Times. “If they don’t commit to making them promptly, then we have no choice but to ask a court to intervene.”

Juul companies were no doubt advertising to a younger audience with its modern technology and plethora of exotic flavors to smoke. By 2019, 27% of teenagers admitted to smoking e-cigarettes. The F.D.A. has put a ban of selling any flavors but menthol and tobacco and they’ve also lowered the nicotine percentage to 5% and 3%. Juul disagrees with the notion that they were seeking a younger audience. They stopped marketing vape products in the United States entirely.

To take it another step further, Juul, gave the F.D.A. a 125,000 page application proving their products have helped people stop vaping. The judge gave the F.D.A. a year to approve or reject the application, but when the year ended, they had not made a decision. Although the company presented evidence proving people smoked cigarettes less when they use their products, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network told the F.D.A. to reject the application.

The F.D.A. continues to review the application.